Fleets will be hit with a new tax on electric vehicles (EVs), while fuel duty has been frozen and there will be a temporary delay to scrapping employee car ownership schemes.

Revealing the Government’s tax plans in the Budget, after they had been inadvertently published by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said that the UK's net financial debt this year will be £2.6 trillion, meaning “one in every £10 the Government spends is on debt interest”.

She says her fiscal rules will “get borrowing down while supporting investment”, adding that by 2028/2029 the budget balance “moves into a surplus of £3.9 billion”.

While the OBR forecasts GDP will grow by 1.5% in 2025, above 1% expected earlier this year, UK economic growth forecasts have been downgraded thereafter, from what the fiscal watchdog projected in March.

In 2026, the economy is now expected to expand by 1.4%, below a previous forecast of 1.9%

For 2027, GDP is estimated to expand by 1.6% against March's estimate of 1.8%, while in 2028, GDP is forecast to rise by 1.5%. In March, the OBR reckoned it would increase by 1.7%

In 2029, the economy will expand by 1.5%, not 1.8% as previously thought.

The OBR says this will mean £16bn less in tax receipts by 2030, and says the tax increases outlined in the Budget will bring “the tax take to an all-time high of 38% of GDP in 2030-31”.

Further information:

Budget 2025: Fleets impacted by Chancellor’s tax plans | Autumn Budget 2025